Ags pummel Titans
Despite rolling his ankle twice, Jaycee Carroll scored 24 points to lead the Aggies past the Cal-State Fullerton Titans 84-60 Thursday night at the Spectrum.
Carroll shot five-of-six from three-point range and eight-of-10 from the field after hobbling off the court twice in the first half.
“My teammates hit me when I was open and I hit some open shots,” Carroll said. “That’s what you like as a guard is for post players to get you the ball when you’re open. Our team is very good at that.”
Carroll said he just landed on someone else’s foot both times he left the game. He said he walked it off and re-taped it both times and was fine.
Teammate Jason Williams said he is amazed after every game at what Carroll can do.
“I’m trying to go to the boards and [Carroll’s shots] just go in,” he said. “He’s a hell of a player.”
Nate Harris scored 12 points and Spencer Nelson added another 11 while both players grabbed seven rebounds. David Pak also scored in double-figures with 10 points.
The blowout win comes after two conference road losses to Pacific and CS Northridge.
“We needed to bounce back today,” Williams said. “We bounced back and got the win. Now we have to get one on Saturday.”
Morrill was trying to keep the losses in perspective.
“I have to chuckle a little bit because it’s kind of like something is wrong with us in a few peoples’ minds because we lost to a team that was picked first in the league on their home court and to a team that was picked third in the league on their home court,” Morrill said. “It tells you that we think we are supposed to win … a lot of road games around here.”
After the Titans to cut the Aggie lead to 28-27, USU finished the first half on an 11-0 run, including a 35-foot three-pointer by Jaycee Carroll at the buzzer, to pull away for good.
“That’s a nice little bonus to get a buzzer-beater right before halftime,” Carroll said.
Williams came of the bench for six rebounds, four assists and nine points, two of which came on a dunk in the first half.
“It felt great,” Williams said about his dunk. “Cass [Matheus] went up strong and it just came off and I was right there.”
Titan Bobby Brown, who leads the Big West Conference in scoring by averaging 18.8 going into Thursday’s contest, shot just four-of-13 from the field and scored only 11 points.
“We felt like we really had help on him,” Morrill said. “It doesn’t hurt that the students participated. I guess if you shoot an air ball in this building you pay for it.”
CSF head coach Bob Burton said the home court really helps the Aggies.
“The atmosphere is just great,” he said. “It is exciting for us to come here and play in something like this. They make it a real home court here.”
USU shot 57.1 percent from the field, from three-point range and from the foul line in Thursday’s game. It was thirteenth time this season the Aggies shot over 50 percent from the field.
The Titans shot just 38.5 percent from the field and were the fifth opponent this season the Aggies have held to under 40 percent field-goal shooting.
USU is now 12-5 on the season and 3-3 in conference play. It will face UC Riverside Saturday.
-bhhinton@cc.usu.edu